Xiaohong XIAO-PLANES (INALCO Paris)

Based on files compiled in 1957-1958 by the Shanghai Political School for Commercial-Industrial circles, this talk presents about fifteen small traders-artisans of noodles and soy sauces, their living conditions and their attitudes vis-à-vis the governance of the state-party and its ideological basis. By analyzing the words and the form of the self-criticisms of these small trader-artisans, the presentation attempts to identify their mental and socio-cultural universe, and to measure the modality of human transformation represented by the work style rectification campaign — zhengfeng 整风.